This is the story of the warrior known as Ermac. He was a tortured combatant under Shao Kahn who used Ermac's powers for evil. But Ermac didn't want this life, he saw a chance to escape and took it. But where will it take him?

I do not own My Little Pony: Frienship is Magic or Mortal Kombat. The former is owned by Hasbro and the latter is owned by Warner Brothers.

On the universal plane there exists many different worlds and many creators who watch over them. In the worlds of the Elder Gods, peace is maintained by a grand tournament where champions from each of their worlds are pitted in glorious battle. Should any world be undefeated 10 times, the victor may claim the world of the loser such that the two are merged.

Ermac, the Warrior of many souls, was created to fight in the tournament, a loyal slave to the ruler of Outworld- Shao Kahn. Thought to be a mere tool of Shao Kahn, the warrior wanted more and did not care for how things were at the moment. But now, he had an opportunity in front of him.

It was the end of Earthrealm, and the beginning of a new world. Ermac stood before the two worlds of Outworld and Earthrealm and saw that their fusion was slowly coming to fruition. It was at this moment that Ermac realized there would be no use for him in this new realm, no happiness for him and the hundreds of souls inside him. But he realized there was a way out for him, a way for him to start over, in a realm far beyond the reaches of Shao Kahn and the Elder Gods.

The lives within him knew many things including arcane rights of travel; the means to create portals to worlds even the Gods didn't know. The spell, whispered to him from within, formed and was spoken aloud. As he chanted, a shimmering rift began to form nearby and with the last word, a passage materialized. The portal shined with a blinding light, far different from the dark portals he traveled through with Shao Kahn and Quan Chi. He stepped into the light, and readied himself for what he was about to see. He paused a moment to study his work. Glancing back, he saw Shao Kahn brutally beating Raiden, the Thunder God. He knew it would be over soon, but he pushed those thoughts away. It was no longer his concern.

He stepped boldly forward and, with a flash, he was gone. The light disappeared and before him were woods full of a great silence. The forest felt pleasantly peaceful compared to what he had seen over the past few months.

Just then, a scream pierced the otherwise peaceful scene. It was not unlike many he'd heard and ignored in his time of service, but now he was free and his combined souls wanted to atone for their sins. He rushed through the trees to where the scream had come from. Mid-stride, his practiced skills of observation took in the scene: A powerful creature, larger than a full grown man, stood on it's haunches bellowing mightily. It appeared to be some sort of monster stitched together from different animal parts though one of the souls within him told him that the creature was called a Manticore. And from the looks of it, a quite furious manticore.

The object of the beast's rage was a small horse (no... a pony?) with a bright yellow coat, golden mane, and a strange brand resembling a musical note on it's flank. He could hardly believe it, but it was this bright creature itself that was screaming.

Despite his speed and skill, Ermac knew he had little time to save the pony. Instincts or souls (he couldn't discern which) told him that what he saw before him was a resident of this world and someone like him would seem strange and monstrous. If the pony panicked at his approach, his efforts would be in vain. Being conflicted about what to do was unusual and uncomfortable for him so when an inner soul offered another spell, he spoke it aloud without hesitation.

He stumbled as his body lurched forward and his front hooves hit the ground. Turning his attention inward for a moment, he noted that his body had taken a similar size and appearance to the pony he was trying to rescue. His limbs were covered in a light brown fur and long, off-white hair flowed from his head. His clothing had been altered as well and he found that he could still move easily. He closed his eyes as he found his new balance and spared only a moment to ponder how insane the scenario had become, but those thoughts would have to wait. An innocent life was in danger.

With only a few more strides, he was in range and jumped from the cover of the woods between the pony and it's attacker. The pony gasped while the Manticore growled in an impressive fashion at the interruption.

"Leave, beast!" cried Ermac. His voice sounded strange. The Manticore gave a roar and lifted his paw off the ground, extending very sharp claws.

With better control this time, Ermac shouted, "You have no chance!" while he rose into the air. Front legs extended, Ermac's eyes show green as a same colored aura formed around the Manticore causing the creature to pause with a puzzled look.

Ermac screamed. "WE ARE MANY! YOU ARE BUT ONE!" and his magic threw the Manticore far into the woods. In the distance he heard its howls of rage, but the howls were retreating. Satisfied for the moment, he turned to the yellow pony to find her lying on the ground.

Visually checking for any sort of trauma or injury and finding none, he realized she'd fallen unconscious. "She must have fainted in all of the excitement" Ermac thought.

He knew if he was to integrate into this new world and avoid suspicion, he had to learn as much as he could. He knelt down placed his hoof on its head extending a little of his magic at the same time. The pony was a female, one who'd come from what was considered "out in the country". Unfamiliar words popped into his head: "Equestria", "Princess Celestia", "bluegrass". With each word came sensations that helped him learn of their meaning; the land he was in, it's ruler, and the music that he sensed this pony was well versed in.

He broke contact; he had enough information for now. But he felt that something within him had changed. This was not unexpected as he'd left his world intending for things to change. But what did surprise him, once he was able to find the right word, was that he felt "happy". Probably for the first time in his life.

It was still a little difficult to master his new body, but he soon managed to remove his mask and turned to wake the fallen pony. She slowly opened her eyes and saw her rescuer.

"Oh my..." said the nameless pony as she rose to her feet. "Who are you?"

"Our – um – my name is Er – uh – Bluegrass." He realized immediately his mistake in not anticipating such a question and having neglected to pull information of this world's customs from the pony while it slept. The yellow pony rose an eyebrow, but then smiled; seemingly satisfied with his hasty response.

"Nice to meet you Bluegrass, I'm Sally Sound." She raised her hoof to Ermac who stepped back at first ready to counterattack, but he realized that it was a friendly gesture. He mimicked the gesture and returned her smile. With a slight lean her hoof touched his with a soft "clop" after which she the lowered her hoof and he did the same. The ritual greeting appeared to be complete.

She continued, "So what are you doing out here in the Everfree Forest?".

"I could ask you the same thing" he said with his composure regained. "You could have gotten killed by that creature."

"It was a risk I know, but I was trying to take a shortcut to get to some family of mine in Ponyville," Sally said with much excitement.

It must be a settlement Ermac thought. "Well it doesn't seem to safe to go alone through this forest. May I escort you to this . . . Ponyville?"

"Why of course! It'll be nice to know I'm safe with a big strong stallion protecting me" Sally said with her eyes fluttering. "By the way, what's with the get up?" asked Sally pointing at Ermac's armor and mask.

"Oh, well – um – you see, I was – um – practicing for – uh – new movie!" Ermac was trying his best to sound legitimate. Only knowing what movies were from his encounters with the warriors from Earthrealm didn't really give him much to go on.

"Oh wow! You're a movie star?" squealed Sally.

Ermac thought back to Johnny Cage, an Earthrealm warrior, and gave a deep, "No." to Sally. He'd rather die with all of his souls than become what Cage was. "I'm a stunt double – though I think I'm done with that career."

"Oh, well okay then." Sally said with a disheartened look on her face. Ermac knew that this disappointed her, he wanted to make her smile.

"But I'm thinking about getting back into music, it's what I've always wanted to do." Ermac said with a smile on his face.

"Oh well lucky for you I happen to be a producer in my hometown of Appleoosa." said Sally with a big smile on her face. "What type of music do you do?" she asked. "Oh wait, your name is Bluegrass . . . duh". "What type of musical cutie mark do you have?" she tried to get a look at Ermac's flank.

"My cutie mark? It's a" he thought for a moment, and conjured up a mark on his rump. "It's a guitar of course." Ermac said with delight.

"Nice, we need a guitar playing pony at Appleoosa!" yelled Sally Sound with much excitement. "I'll have to check out your skills later, that is if you're looking for a job?" asked Sally.

"Well, what do I get from this job?" he asked.

"About 200 bits a week plus whatever you make on the side." stated Sally. "But we can go over that later, where do you live?"

"Nowhere currently." he said.

"Well after I'm done in Ponyville, why don't you come back with me to Appleoosa and we can see about getting you a place stay." Sally announced with joy.

"That would be fantastic." Ermac said with much delight. He gave a hug to Sally Sound. He had no idea as to why, it just seemed the natural thing to do.

Sally returned the hug, "Think nothing of it Bluegrass, now let's get on out of this forest and maybe grab some of Ponyville's best apples."

Ermac and Sally started trotting to Ponyville. Ermac had a big smile on his face and many happy souls within him. He . . . they all knew, it was the beginning of a beautiful new life.

Ermac walked through the forest with Sally Sound and asked her many questions in a way to hide the fact that he was simply confirming facts he already knew from the mind read. The world was really fascinating, in a way it wasn't that different from what he just came from. This world however was more of realized vision of what Shao Kahn wanted. The ruler, Princess Celestia, was in command and no one opposed her rule. The difference, it seemed, was that all of the people of Equestria loved her, rather than feared her like Shao Kahn's subjects. And from what he saw in Sally's mind, the world was in perfect balance with itself. It had it's disasters, but these disasters were nothing compared to what he had seen . . . or what he had done.

"So where did you come from originally?" asked Sally.

"Would you believe me if I told you I didn't know." Ermac stated with a friendly demeanor.

"Maybe, but you seem like a pony with his feet on the ground, when you set out to do something you just do it, no matter what anypony says." Ermac was surprised by Sally's reply. Nobody – rather no pony – ever gave him an in depth character study. He was simply a tool to be used. By Shao Kahn, Quan Chi the nercromancer, even Shang Tsung the sorcerer. To have somepony talk about how he conducted himself was quite strange. "I don't know," she continued, "with someone of your bravery I'd expect you to have a parent of some kind to guide you."

"My parents were – not the kindest of ponies if I remember correctly." Ermac was careful not to blow his cover, while at the same time creating it. "They were the type of ponies that would use their own children as pawns to get what they wanted."

"That sounds terrible." Sally said with a sad face. "When we get to Appleoosa, I'll show you my family, they'd be more than willing to show you how a real family works."

"That would be perfect." Ermac said with a smile on his face. He looked within himself and saw the souls within him flowing calmly. They liked his new friendly demeanor, and they didn't want his peace to stop.

"Hey we're clear of the forest." Sally said with delight. The two looked to the sky and saw the stars shining beautifully. And just below the stars was a small settlement.

"Is that Ponyville?" Ermac asked.

"It sure is Bluegrass!" Sally shouted with delight. Though she'd never admit it, she was glad Bluegrass was there with her. He has shown himself to her to be the perfect gentlecolt. "Well come on, it's a beautiful sight but we're wasting time here."

"Oh, of course." Ermac followed Sally into Ponyville and saw even more pony creatures. They were quite diverse with their colors, "cutie marks", and general personalities.

"Looks like Pinkie Pie isn't here." Sally said with a chuckle.

"Pinkie Pie?" The name alone left many of the souls within him with questions.

"She's the type of pony that loves to party, in every sense of the word I think?" Sally said scratching her head. "She would have had a welcome party set up for us."

"Did she know we were coming?" Asked Ermac.

"No, she has a way of predicting things that are going to happen." Sally was speaking as if it was a power far beyond her comprehension.

Ermac and his souls came to the conclusion that Pinkie Pie was some sort of telepath, and that it might be wise if they tried to avoid contact with her if at all possible. "She sounds like quite a handful."

"That's fine, she's probably helping to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration." Sally looked like an excited child when she said this.

"Oh that's happening tonight?" Ermac was simply confirming what he already knew, but he couldn't be too careful.

"I've been a little busy saving SOME ponies from near death experiences with monsters, so yes, I forgot about it for a little bit." Ermac was hoping to the Elder Gods that making a statement like that would throw her off.

"Oh, heh, right." Sally said with a bad poker face. "But yeah it's happening here in Ponyville. I'm sure they've set up a very nice welcome for her." Sally had a face of complete confidence when she said this.

"Do they really have what it takes to host our ruler?" Ermac always remembered how Shao Kahn made a grand event out of everything he did, whether his subjects wanted to or not . . . mostly not.

"Of course they do, maybe if you go to the caves and meet those diamond dog creatures you get a bad welcome, but this is Ponyville." She seemed to love and support Ponyville. "But personally, I think she'd love my town of Appleoosa, we are some of the friendliest ponies you could ever meet."

"So I have been informed." Ermac said with a smile on his face. "So where is the event taking place?"

"In the center of town, and it looks like the festivities are going to be starting very soon." Sally was pointing at all the ponies walking towards a large structure in the center of town.

"Well what are we waiting for?" asked Ermac with enthusiasm. "Let's go see our royalty!" Ermac wanted to see what kind of ruler Celestia was, and also discern what type of power she had. Raising the sun was one thing for sure, but it could be that she had more power than the Elder Gods themselves and would want to banish him from this land should she find out about his origins.

"Well you sure are excited." Sally laughed at his excitement. "Let's get in there, it looks like we'll be behind everypony."

Ermac and Sally walked into the building and saw many different types of creatures that would all seem to be classified as under "pony". There pegasi, unicorns, and regular ponies, all here to see their ruler. Ermac snapped his attention to the center stage when music started playing. It looked like the orchestra that was playing was made up of birds and trumpets. And it's conductor was a yellow pony with pink hair. Ermac and his souls came to the conclusion that the pegasus had a way with communicating with the animals on a different level than any of the other ponies. A pony was speaking on stage and he decided to listen in.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" said the elder pony. "As Mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the summer sun celebration!" The crowd went wild with excitement. "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this: the longest day of the year." She was different from most elected officials he had seen, she appeared to really lead. "And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land-" Here it comes. "-the very pony that gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria, PRINCESS CELESTIA!" The curtain was pulled, the orchestra blaring, but the guest of honor was missing.

"Remain calm, everypony!" Cried the pony on the stage. "There must be a reasonable explanation for this."

A white unicorn came from looking behind the curtains and screamed, "She's gone!" the crowds gasped and kept asking each other where the princess was.

Ermac then felt a dark presence within the building. Just then, on the balcony, a dark form began to materialize. Revealing a creature that Ermac knew was flowing with enough power to cause a lot of trouble.

The crowd fell silent, gazing upon the evil figure before them. This creature, from what his souls told him, was an "Alicorn". A creature with both Unicorn and Pegasus features. The evil form laughed and began to speak.

"Oh my beloved subjects." she grinned and continued. "It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun loving faces."

There were many ponies in the crowd that wanted to strike her down, he could see all the ponies restraining one another.

"Why? Am I not royal enough for you?" the Alicorn asked with composure. "Don't you know who I am?" she seemed to be getting annoyed with the crowd. "Does my crown no long count now that I've been imprisoned for a thousand years?" She went up to the white pony and smacked her with her nightly hair. "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

"I did!" screamed a pony at the front of the crowd. "You're the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon!" The crowd gasped at this sudden revelation.

"Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me." Nightmare Moon looked happy to be known in such a way. "Then you also know why I'm here?"

The pony upfront was left in silence, clearly she didn't have all the facts she wanted. But Ermac knew evil when he saw it, this creature seemed to be something of a symbiote. Latching on to somepony of great power, and taking complete control. He began to tap into the consciousness of the symbiote and found that it's name was . . . Miasma. The only problem was that he couldn't hear the mind of the pony Miasma was controlling.

Nightmare Moon then spoke again with an evil laugh. "Remember this day little ponies, for it was your last." She then glared and said. "From this moment forth, the night will last FOREVER!" She then erupted with power and evil laughter.

Ermac was left speechless. One day into his new life and a creature of great power was already threatening it. Ermac was ready to fight but he didn't want to go back to the way things were. Ermac just stared at the evil Alicorn, contemplating on what he should do.

Just then, the pony speaking at the beginning of the ceremony, unleashed a swarm of what appeared to be guards upon Nightmare Moon. Before they could do anything however, she vanished. Sally nudged him.

"What are we going to do?" Sally was nervous and she didn't attempt to cover it up at all. "We can't let the world experience everlasting night!"

"No, we will challenge her." Ermac said with a face of determination. "I promise you Sally, we'll try to figure this mess out." Somehow, Ermac thought.

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